


Table Talk

by Curator



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, I don’t write fluff often but damn this is fluffy, Pool Table
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:35:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25021012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Curator/pseuds/Curator
Summary: Ten years of conversation while playing pool — with a drabble for each year.
Relationships: Kathryn Janeway/Tom Paris
Comments: 32
Kudos: 42





	1. Year One (between The Cloud and Eye of the Needle)

“It was Admiral Patterson.”

Tom lifted the rack to leave fifteen pool balls in triangular formation on green felt.

“Are you kidding?” Kathryn’s cue shifted as she lined up her shot. “Patterson thinks your father is a self-centered, pompous blowhard. Why would Patterson approve your release from prison?”

There was a crack of impact and the scattering of balls with the twelve and fourteen disappearing into pockets.

“Stripes.”

A forehead furrowed under blond hair. “Admiral Whatley?”

Kathryn’s cue went vertical. “Tom, take your shot.”

He studied the angles, then sent the seven into a side pocket.

“Not Whatley?”

“Not Whatley.”


	2. Year Two (between Alliances and Threshold)

His fingers were already blue with dust, but Tom kept chalking his cue. “You know, if the transwarp flight is successful, you’ll be playing pool with a celebrity.”

“How fortunate for me.” Kathryn’s whiskey glass tipped and more of the amber liquid was gone. “Perhaps a celebrity wouldn’t stall on a tough shot.”

“This?” Tom’s cue inverted, shifted backward, then sent the cue ball to knock the three and six into pockets. “Nah.”

Kathryn sipped more whiskey. “Not bad.”

“Don’t you think,” he grinned, “that a celebrity should learn which admiral approved his release from prison?”

Kathryn rolled her eyes.


	3. Year Three (between Worst Case Scenario and Scorpion)

Kathryn couldn’t help but pout a little. “Tuvok’s mutiny training program would have been more fun.”

“We always play pool, Captain.” Tom brought over the whiskeys. “Why change tradition?”

She accepted her glass, distracted as she calculated odds for various shots. “I just thought you liked different experiences, sometimes.”

Tom stiffened. 

“Are you talking about B’Elanna?”

Kathryn spoke through a mouth that had gone dry. “I beg your pardon?”

He lay his cue on the green felt. “If you have something to say about me seeing her, then now’s the time.”

Kathryn looked away.

Tom stalked out of the holodeck.


	4. Year Four (Between Hunters and Prey)

“You don’t have to do this because you feel sorry for me, Tom.” Kathryn’s arms crossed.

“I can’t even remember why we stopped playing pool,” he lied. “Messages from home can remind us of the good ol’ days, right?

“I’m not sure this is appropriate.” She glanced around the once-familiar simulation. “B’Elanna—”

“Hey.” Tom’s hands went to Kathryn’s shoulders. “There’s nothing wrong with having a friend. And I heard you could use one.”

Her cheeks burned. The Dear John letter should have been private. “I’m fine.”

Tom hugged Kathryn anyway and she wished it didn’t hurt more than it helped.


	5. Year Five (Between Nothing Human and Thirty Days)

Kathryn sunk the eleven into a corner pocket. 

Tom continued their conversation. 

“B’Elanna is as angry with me as she is with you. She thinks we ganged up on her to use that holographic Cardassian doctor against her.”

Tom wondered if Kathryn would have overridden any crewmember’s medical wishes or if she was overcompensating for any jealousy toward B’Elanna. Then he frowned, checked his ego, and sent the five into a side pocket.

When he looked up, Kathryn was staring at him, eyes serious. 

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” He put his hand on hers. “You and I are fine.”


	6. Year Six (Between Fair Haven and Blink of an Eye)

In holodeck one, Kathryn demonstrated chalking the cue.

“It helps with aim. Do you understand?”

Michael Sullivan shrugged. He was programmed to prefer rings and she couldn’t alter his subroutines anymore. 

In holodeck two, Tom showed B’Elanna how to line up a shot. 

“You look down the cue but also at the cue ball and the entire table.”

“Right.” Her nose crinkled as she took her cue. “And this is fun, how?”

In holodecks one and two, blue eyes burned with frustration as they told themselves this wasn’t as important as they were making it and to just move on.


	7. Year Seven (between Endgame and disembarking)

Kathryn’s fingertips ran along green felt in holodeck one. 

“I’m not sorry,” she told the pool table. “I had responsibilities and you are very charming, but I did what I had to do to captain this ship.”

Tom’s palms rested on green felt in holodeck two.

“I have a lot of regrets in my life,” he told the pool table. “And one of them is that our friendship fell apart. I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but it hurt me every day.”

They each called for the computer to end the simulation and stood, alone, in an empty holodeck.


	8. Year Eight (between homecoming and being home)

Just before dawn, Kathryn heard the chime.

She ran toward the entryway touchpad, hair askew, bathrobe flapping behind her.

The door slid open.

“Tom!”

He had stubble, red-rimmed eyes, and hair sticking up in tufts. 

They hadn’t spoken since the welcome home party six months earlier.

“Brought you something.” Tom tugged on an anti-grav unit. “Complete pool table. I’ll put it together if you want.”

Kathryn's throat tightened. “Tom, what are you doing here?”

“I just,” his hand raked his hair, “I just need someone I can play pool with. All right?”

She nodded.

They assembled the pool table together.


	9. Year Nine (between divorce and new beginnings)

Kathryn sent the ten into a side pocket and the thirteen into a corner.

Tom sent the eight and one into the same corner pocket.

He leaned his cue against the table they had put together ten months before. “I signed the divorce agreement today.”

Kathryn kept her tone even. “What’s next for you, then?”

He shrugged. “Maybe ask Admiral Nechayev?”

Her head tilted in confusion.

Tom smiled for the first time in ten months. “Wasn’t she the one who approved my release from prison all those years ago?”

Kathryn’s smile back was toothy. “No. But you can keep guessing.”


	10. Year Ten (forevermore)

The nine tipped into a corner pocket.

Kathryn grinned.

“Nice shot.” Tom sipped his whiskey. “Very nice.”

“Thank you.” The glass shifted from his hand to hers. “But are you going to play or are you going to talk?”

Tom’s arm slid around Kathryn’s waist. “I was thinking neither.”

Laughter bubbled from her stomach. “You’re just saying that because you’re losing.”

“Nah,” he murmured. “I’d say I’m finally winning.”

The game was unfinished, but Kathryn let Tom guide her to their bedroom. She whispered in his ear.

Tom chortled.

“I _knew_ it had to be Admiral Patterson!”

He kissed her.


End file.
